Sunny Fitzgerald
University of Hawaii at Manoa
A study was conducted among twenty-three 27-37 year old Korean women to further understand the underlying context of barriers to Papanicolaou (Pap) test. The study was performed because the efforts to increase the rate of the Pap test rate has not been effect among Korean women. The twenty-three women were organized into four focus groups for a qualitative analysis of their feelings and attitudes toward Pap testing (Park. S., Chang S., Chung C. 1). The results were analyzed and the researchers developed five contextual themes of barriers that were identified under the categories of “misconceptions attribute to women’s experiences of Pap testing” and “issues related to the health care system” (Park et al. 1).
Participants in this study were selected by a convenience sample recruited from three suburbs in three metropolitan cities in Korea. The researchers also used network or snowball sampling once the received approval. The inclusion criteria included sexually active married women under 40 years of age because the is the group that is at the highest risk and also in the Korean culture the only time sex can be talked about publicly is under the condition of marriage. The twenty-three women that were selected for the study found to have relatively higher levels of education and income compared with the average group, where 41% completed college (Park et al 2.) The researchers did not specify if any of the participants started but did not finish, or if any refused to participate.
The data collected in this study were done using four focus groups, two drawn from churches and the other two from mothers of elementary school students within the communities (Park et al 2). Each focus group with 5-6 members met for one session in a private room under the guidance of the investigators of the
References: Park, S., Chang S., Ching C. (2006). Context of barriers to Pap testing in Korean women. Applied Nursing Research, 19 177-181.